Franco Philosophy: June 2010

What a Father's Day it was today. Erin and I had a wonderful weekend!! We started off by leaving on Friday for Baton Rouge. We stayed there over night and visited with her family. Erin went and saw her grandmother who has bone cancer and in lots of pain. Please pray for her as she endures broken bones and the physical stress of aging.

Saturday around lunch, we left for Morgan City to pick up the registration packet for my first triathlon ever, The Snake Bite Triathlon. After doing that, we made it to Franklin, LA to visit a wonderful friend of ours, Lacey. She is town for the summer before she heads back to the convent in preparation for becoming a Carmelite Sister of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles. We went to a beautiful mass there and then headed off to dinner in New Iberia. We ate with Neil, one of our seminarian friends who is only 3 years from becoming a very wonderful priest. We had a blast at dinner!

After dinner, it was time to rest. We went to bed with plans of waking up at 5:45 am. Gabriel slept in the same room as us at Lacey's parents home. He needed to eat at 4:30 ish in the morning....once I woke up to that I never went back to sleep :)

I met my Uncle John, cousin Zachary, and brother Nick for a ride back to Morgan City to set up for the triathlon. Both Zachary and Nick did the triathlon as well.

Skip to 7:50 am, 10 minutes before the triathlon began. We were to start in 3 groups....age 30-39 men, 3 minutes later it was the rest of the men, and 3 minutes after that it was all the women. Morgan City is about an hour from New Orleans. My mom, dad, brother Jeff, Nick's girlfriend Rachel, Aunt Shelley, and cousin Taylor were all there to watch the 3 of us compete. No pressure...YEAH RIGHT!!!!

I will admit that buying a house, painting it for a straight month, and then moving in, cut into my training quite a bit. Am I making excuses....nah....I am setting you up for one funny story! About the only thing I was very proficient in was/is the bike. My plans were to average at least 20 mph today.

10 minutes until the start of the first wave and I was beginning to get the nervous bug. The race was a sprint distance. 400 meter swim, 13 mile bike, 2 mile run. Not bad right? Hah, maybe for someone who actually trained well. Most swimmers warm up with a 400. I AM NOT A SWIMMER! I was looking this swim in the face and feeling about the size of an ant. I didn't have butterflies in my stomach--I think there were a few hawks in there somewhere cause I about threw up at the thought of coming in dead last.

There are kayaks throughout the course for you to hold on to if you need a breath, as well as buoys. I told myself I would swim on my back before I would grab a kayak. Well not only did I swim on my back, I also got to know 2 of the guys on the kayaks pretty well :) I was not anywhere close to prepared for a swim. I know this for a fact when I saw just about every girl pass me up--they started 3 minutes after I did!!

Let's just say, I was very happy to reach the stairs and climb out of the water. Here is a shot of that with my brother cheering me on.

Getting out of the water after I went through hell and back--satan says hi

My brother, Jeff, cheering me on as I head for my bike

So I manage to stumble through the transition area to my bike, completely obliterated by the swim. I actually think my nearly 7 month old son could have done that faster :) Anyway, I sit down to put my socks and bike shoes on to find that I just don't have time to wipe all of the sand off of my feet--BIG MISTAKE, mention later. I eat an energy gel pack, hop on the bike, and start pedaling. Remember that 20 mph average I wanted to maintain....turned into like 15 or so. My body was completely overcome by exhaustion from the swim. The 13 mile bike tok me about 12-15 minutes longer than I wanted.

I make it back to the transition area, and hop off the bike...

The best part of dropping off my bike was that I was watching my brother finish the run....the run that I was about to start. I drop off my bike put on my shoes and visor and head off for 2 miles of pain, I mean running. Remember how I mentioned I didn't get all of the sand off my feet before putting on socks. Well, about 5 minutes into the run, I could feel the blister growing at an exponential rate. Yes, after meeting satan in the swim, he came back to me in the run for a bonus visit.

I, however, decided to look at the glass half full. I stopped to get water and Gatorade from a very young girl (about 10 or so) at the water station. I talked to her for a brief second before heading out for more running. All of the volunteers were so nice. I admit that I walked and ran the 2 miles. I needed some breaks in the water, rode slower on the bike than I wanted, and walked some of the run, but I came across that finish line without ever quitting. To me, that was quite an accomplishment. I know it's no Ironman, but I had to start somewhere. Now I know what I need to do to train.